Theater to present World Premiere of 'Queen's 2 Bodies'

 | 04/12/2002

Media Contact: Dr. Larry Brown, 279-5715 How often does a small university theater troupe have the opportunity to present the world premiere of an award-winning new play? Not often, but that's exactly what Lipscomb University students will do as they present "The Queen's 2 Bodies" by Jeanne Murray Walker April 18-21 in Lipscomb's University Theater, 3901 Granny White Pike, Nashville. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free and the public is invited. Because the theater is a small, intimate black box theater, arrival 45 minutes before showtime is encouraged to assure getting a seat. The play examines the unsuccessful romance of Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex, who later challenged the throne and was executed. The title refers to the Renaissance theory that a ruler had two "bodies" - two lives - public and private, which were often in conflict, said Dr. Larry Brown, chair of the Department of Theater at Lipscomb. The theory is often applied in discussing Shakespeare's plays, particularly Richard II and Julius Caesar, with emphasis on how a ruler allows private matters to eclipse his or her ruling responsibilities, which usually results in the ruler being overthrown, Brown said. "The Queen's 2 Bodies" won the best-play competition for 2000 at the Christians in Theater Arts Conference. It was presented in script form for judging and was presented as a staged reading for the conference, but the Lipscomb performance will be the first staged production of the work, Brown said. Emily Choate, a senior English major from Nashville, plays Elizabeth. Opposite her in the role of Robert Devereaux, her love interest, is Dr. Michael Slayton, a 1994 music-education major now teaching at Vanderbilt University. Other cast members include Stephen Wood, a theater major from Springfield, Va.; Rachel Holman, an English-teaching major from Brentwood; Mary Margarette Woodroof, a premedical major from Franklin, Tenn.; Tadd Himelrick, a music/vocal performance major from Brentwood; and Jesse Fraser, a theater major from Smyrna. Music for the performance will feature alumni of Lipscomb''s Early Music Consort. Jeanne Murray Walker is the author of many plays and five books of poetry. In1991, she won The Washington National Playwriting Competition for "Stories from the National Enquirer," which was produced in Boston, Washington and London. She has won the Virginia Duvall Mann Award, two Lewis Prizes, a Stage Time Award from the Minneapolis Playwrights' Center, and grants from the Pew Foundation. Walker was named a Pew Fellow in the Arts in 1998 and recently received an NEA Fellowship. She lectures and directs workshops around the country. She is a professor of English at the University of Delaware. In addition to the CITA award, "The Queen's 2 Bodies" was a finalist in The O'Neill Competition and the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition.